When Pranks Backfire
by The Petit Filous Girl
Summary: Maybe doing a complicated prank on the slytherins while Sirius was drunk was a bad idea. Unfortunately, even the marauders have to face the consequences to their actions.


A/N: Written for Queenoftheoutlands' Doctor Who Quote Challenge.

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When Pranks Backfire

"Bananas are good!" Sirius exclaimed. He and his three closest friends were tiptoeing along the corridors past midnight hidden by James's invisibility cloak.

"Ssh!" hissed Remus, keen not to be caught out of bed in the middle of the night: it was a bad example for a prefect, not only to allow trouble making, but to participate in it as well.

"Why on earth did you drink a whole bottle of firewhisky before we left?" James whispered, "You're turning into an alcoholic!"

"I'm not as think as you drunk I am," Sirius replied sagely.

Because there was two weeks to go until the next full moon, the marauders had decided that they needed something to do in the meantime. Therefore, the first conclusion that came to their minds was pranking the slytherins.

"If we enchant the furniture in the dungeons to change into frogs, how can we be sure the frogs won't attack the gryffindors?" Peter asked quietly.

"Don't worry, we got Moony to research it," James reassured his friend. "He says we've got to add another couple of words and wand movement to the spell."

They soon reached the dungeons, which looked twice as eerie as they did during the day. James entered the classroom followed closely by the others.

"I'll lock the door, shall I?" Sirius asked. "Make sure no one gets in?"

"Sure, whatever," James replied. He began to busy himself, pushing the furniture into the centre of the room. Soon a small collection of desks and chairs sat proudly in the middle, making an easy target for their spell.

"Do you have the spellbook with you Remus?" squeaked Peter.

"Yes, I'll just get it out-"

"Don't worry, I remember the spell!" Sirius pointed his wand to the furniture.

"NO! Sirius don't-"

Ignoring the protests Sirius waved his wand in a complicated fashion and shouted, "Aguamenti extremis!"

Everyone waited for something to happen with bated breath, and were pleasantly surprised when nothing happened. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wide stream of water began to pour from the ceiling.

"That's not what's meant to happen," said Sirius. He frowned at the water the shrugged and began humming some obscure tune.

"What spell was that?" yelled an appalled James.

"Not sure, but it was meant to pour frogs from the ceiling."

"But that wasn't the prank!"

"Well I thought it would be funny!"

"Calm down guys," interjected Remus, "let's just stop the water, put the furniture back and get out of here. Sirius is obviously too drunk to do the prank properly. We can do it some other night."

"Alright," sighed James.

Sirius grinned. "So, does anyone know the spell to turn off the water?"

"You don't know it?" Peter yelped.

"Let's just get out of here," said James, "we can leave the mess for the slytherins to clear up."

The four made their way to the door. Remus tried to reach for the door but was met with an invisible barrier. James and Peter tried too but found they couldn't get through.

"Sirius, what spell did you use?"

Sirius looked pleased with himself and replied smugly, "It's not just a locking spell. I made a whole barrier so people won't be able to get through."

"I realize that," Remus said with thinning patience, "Can you do the spell to get rid of it?"

"That's the problem. It was a really complicated spell to learn so I couldn't be bothered to learn the counter spell. I probably should learn it sometime."

Three marauders gaped in horror at their drunken friend.

"So you're telling us that we're trapped in a room, with no way out, in which water is slowly rising?"

"Yup."

For a moment there was silence apart from the gushing of the water. Then…

"HELP!!!"

"We're trapped!"

"AAAAHHH!"

While Remus, James and Peter screamed and pounded on the door, sending as many spells as possible to break through the barrier, Sirius non chalantly sat on one of the desks.

"Have you met the French?" he asked seemingly no one, "My god they know how to party!"

"We're all going to drown!" Peter cried out in panic.

"I always say, always bring a banana to a party!" Sirius continued his drunken ramblings.

For about five minutes they continued like this, Sirius drunkenly chatting and the others trying to escape. After a while, Sirius decided to point out, "That force field's sound proof."

"How are we going to get out of here?" yelled James.

"Don't ask me!" Sirius replied, offended by James's anger.

"How can one person be so stupid?" bellowed James. "Now I'm gonna die in a dungeon…in Scotland!"

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Sirius shouted back, "why didn't you say something? I wouldn't have made a big barrier but you didn't say not to so I made it!"

"Why did you have to get drunk in the first place?"

"It's my firewhisky; I can drink it whenever I want!"

"You drunken idiot!"

"You're smelly!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Remus yelled. "Look at the pair of you, we're all going to die here and you're just squabbling like an old married couple!"

The marauders fell silent for a moment (apart from Peter, crouched under a desk muttering, "Don't want to drown, don't want to drown."). They had been in crazy situations before but this was a new level of insanity. Trapped in a dungeon that was slowly filling with water: James found himself wishing he'd learned to be an escape artist.

"Are there any windows?" Remus asked, trying to be as calm and rational as possible, "Or is there a way out through the storage room?"

"No and no," James answered. "What kind of idiot makes a classroom in a dungeon?"

By now the water was almost up to their knees.

"Guys," Peter said, "Where's Sirius?"

They looked around but bizarrely Sirius had vanished from the murky classroom.

"Sirius!"

"Where are you?"

Frantically, they searched the room, hoping Sirius had found an exit.

"Hi guys!" Sirius said, coming through a wall.

"Aah!" the others screamed girlishly, terrified by Sirius's sudden appearance.

"You…you just came through a wall!" James stammered.

"Are you a ghost?" Peter gasped.

"He isn't a ghost Wormtail," replied Remus. "However, he's somehow found us an exit!"

The marauders clustered excitedly around the wall Sirius had come through. Bravely, James stepped forward and reached out to touch it, only to be met with no resistance. His arm went through the wall. The boys looked at each other, then yelled in triumph.

"We're free!" They ran through the wall, James hastily grabbing the forgotten invisibility cloak, and found a very strange sight. They were in a cupboard in which every shelf was filled with crystallized pineapple.

"What on earth…" James said, stunned.

"We'd better go through this door," said Remus, "and stop that, Sirius and Peter!" The two boys guiltily dropped the pineapples they'd been sneaking into their pockets.

James went first, through the small door in the cupboard, followed by his fellow marauders.

"Where are we?" asked Peter.

"Well, judging by the name on the desk, I think we're in Slughorn's office," Remus whispered.

"Who knew he liked pineapple so much?" commented James. They crept out of the room and into the corridor.

"Finally, we're safe at last!" Peter sighed in relief as they rushed through the corridors heading to bed.

"Not so fast!" A voice made the marauders freeze suddenly and whip around. Standing before them, lips pursed and arms folded sternly, was Professor McGonagall.

"Oh man," moaned James, "we were so close too!" And so, after a backfired prank that nearly cost them their lives and escaping a dungeon through a secret pineapple lair, the marauders received detentions for being out of beds past their bedtimes. At least nobody discovered the water wrecked dungeons until the next day, by which time the marauders had been able to come up with alibis.

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A/N: This isn't one of my best pieces of writing. It seems far fetched, and the ending is kinda rushed. Whether you liked it or not, please leave a review so I'll be able to do a better job next time.


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